Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-12-11

Marion La Touche Had Novel Bank
ing Methods of Her Own.
IHerald

Bagged again.
Mrs. Marion La Touche, better known
to the police as Mrs. Warren and as Mrs.
Ware, the bogus banker and stock opera
tor, is in the tolls once more.
Her schemes in boldness far eclipsed
those of the famous young Napoleon OF
finance.
For the past two or three weeks
number OF women have called at the
Police Central Office to complain OF
swindle carried on at No. 165 west
Twenty.third street. They told lnspec-
tor Byrnes that they bad answered adj
vertisements offering premium OF 500
per month upon an investment OF $500,
and that they had not received one
tenth OF the amount promised. Still
they Stunned the notoriety which a
complaint against the swindler would
give them and they preferred to lose
their money rather than to appear In a
police court.
At last, however, Mrs. Clara johnson
came to the front to denounce the fraud.
She considered it her duty to prosecute
Mrs. La Touche, and willingly consented
to accompany Inspector Byrnes to the
Jefferson Market Police Court to make a
complaint against her. Justice German
was only too happy to issue a warrant
for the proprietress of the concern, with
its electric stock-ticker and its pile Of
dummy stock-books.
Detective Sergeants Lyman and Nc
Manus raided the establishment while 1t
was in full blast last evening and cap
tured Mrs. La Touche. When brought
to the Police Central Office the tall, dark
prisoner refused to give her name, and
| in naughty tone told the detectives that
| il they wanted TO know anything about
her they would have 10 find it out, for
she would not tell them. They did not
have to go very far, as the archieves OF
the Detective Bureau contained her pedi-
gree in full.
An hour later the crafty and accom-
plished swindler broke down, and from
her cell in the basement sent note TO
Inspector Byrnes asking for an inter.
view. She was taken upstairs and
allowed to talk all she desired, and every
thing she said was taken down by q
stenographer, who was concealed behind
a dummy door. The chain Of evidence
against her was completely forged.
SHE BEGAN IN BOSTON.
Seventeen years ago Mrs. La Touche
alias Warren first came to the notice Ol
the detectives. She was then in Boston,
Mass, and, with her husband, was ar
rested for swindling. Through some
sort of deal the pair managed to evadt
punishment, and Warren died. The
woman next turned up as the proprie
tress of fashionable clearinghouse a
the Hub, and claimed to be the wife of {
man named Dow, who soon after casheC
in his checks. Not long after the woman
again fell into the hands OF the police
This time she was accused of forgery
She had purchased a certificate for one
share of Michigan railroad stock. Thu
she raised to sixty shares aud deposited
with q banking firm. A day or two late
she sought loan, but in the mean time
the forgery had been discovered.
The woman and her father, who saiC
his name was Jacob Grass, were arrested
for forgery, but they obtained their re
lease on straw bail and fed to st. John
n. B. They were arrested there fo
passing o forged check for 81, 700. Be
fore the trial occurred the couple fled t
Chicago, where they were trapped anC
taken back to st. John. There the &C
complished swindler was known as Mrs
Ware. When the case eventually cam
to trial the jury disagreed, although
Grass. IN save himself. testified agains
his daughter.
PHILADELPHIA EXPERIENCES.
With man named Royal La Touche
Mrs. Warren diias Ware was heard OF il
1881 in Philadelphia. The pair were ar
rested at least half dozen times TO
swindling, but in all cases they man
aged to evade punishment. The woman
however, was confined for several month
in Moyamensing prison. Two year
later she came to this city and with
Mrs. Mcintyre opened bogus banking
concern in Union Square. Their dupe
were all women, who expected large re
turns for small investments. There wa
q quarrel over the spoils, and Mrs. War
rem opened a similar establishment il
Thirty-seventh street There she was or
rested in 1884 for swindling.
A TERM IN THE PEN.
She was sentenced to two years i'm
prisonment in the penitentiary, and il
the hope of escaping punishment carries
her case to the Court of Appeals. tn
decision was affirmed, and she had h
serve out her term. In the mean tim
Royal La Touche had been arrested TO
bigamy and sentenced to three years
Imprisonment.
Mrs. La Touche alias Warren ala
Dow alias Ware was released fe'
months ago, and upon getting out O
prison she married La Touche in Ney
Jersey. She has been operating in ives
Twenty-third street, and she says sh
found as many victims as she wanted
, In several instances she took deposit
amounting to over $500, and promise
large returns, but only laughed at he
dupes when they called to ask for thei
weekly premiums.
The prisoner, who is tall and we'll edu
Gated, is a worthy rival of Mrs. Howe
: the swindling Boston female banker an